Womanity (2010)
by Thierry Mugler

Fig is one of my favorite notes in perfume, especially for the warmer months, and I really love this one. It's quite different to other fig perfumes I have. Instead of going the sort of citrusy, or green or milky coconut route, it smells more like fig trees by the Mediterranean sea. The whole fruiting tree is there, with a beautiful soft salty marine note. I think some people have gotten a bit unnecessarily freaked out by this one because of the "caviar" note listed, I've even heard some claim it smells "fishy", but I get none of that. As per most Muglers, that's just a fantasy note to make it seem move avant garde, and isn't actually a caviar-like smell at all. It's a marine note, more along the lines of what's described on Fragrantica as "sea water" It's salty and breezy more like the sea note in Hermes' Epice Marine or Malle's Lys Mediterranee or something like that. I think this is a beautiful warm weather scent and an original take on a fig dominant fragrance

I have finally found my Mugler. Alien screeches on me, Angel goes stale, Aura flattens into a plastic, cellophane-like licorice, and my skin has devoured all of the Alien and Angel flankers I've tried. Talk about funky skin chemistry.

Womanity absolutely blossoms on my skin. Well, "blossom" may be the wrong word. The initial blast of fig--all overripe fruit and zero leaf--comes roaring off of my skin alongside an almost-but-not-quite-over-the-top fishy/metallic smell. It's basically fig and salt, and it's incredible and discombobulating. Within a few minutes, the monster turns back into a kitten and a bit of green fig leaf comes through to soften the edges and bring me back to blessed reality.

The wood is detectable though clearly not the focus of the composition, but thankfully it keeps the whole squirming thing on the ground.

Just as I was cursing the perfume lords for discontinuing the one f*@#ing Mugler that finally worked on me, I heard that Womanity miraculously and unceremoniously reappeared on Mugler's website. Well hot damn, Thierry. Beam one over.

I get green flowers and hazelnuts. Lots of it. It was very surprising already. But now it is fig and caviar?! I don’t know what to think. Amazing. Great sillage and longevity as well.

When it initially hits the skin, the mixture of caviar and fig blasts out. It feels weird, and to some extent, nauseating. However, the salty note mellows into a light touch after a while and it becomes a fresh fig-theme scent. It's fruity sweet with a hint of saltiness, crisp and sparkling. I feel like experiencing gastronomic delight. As many suggested a certain comparison, I can understand the liaison but don't think it smells exactly like that and don't think it's that provocative in purpose. To me, it's a woody-fruity fragrance out of convention, a fresh scent to rock with all year round. The sillage is quite good and the longevity is around 10h. However, I do suggest test before buying as the caviar note may be a tricky part.

I am wearing Womanity for the first and last time today. I've recently got back into Mugler perfumes, after being put off them by Eau de Star, which I found utterly cloying and synthetic. I'm enjoying the other Muglers so much, I bought a bottle of Womanity online, without having smelled it, after reading it was discontinued. I can honestly say this is the oddest perfume I have ever smelled; I don't know if it behaves particularly oddly on my skin, but all I get is ozonic parsley notes, with the slightest hint of wood. I couldn't smell anything in common with other Mugler fragrances at all.

I could imagine this as a rather eccentric room fragrance, pot pourri refresher oil, even as a rather odd Yankee Candle fragrance (with a name like Ocean Parsley), but not as a perfume! I really wish I'd spent the money on a bottle of Angel Muse instead. If this is how Womanity typically smells, I'm not surprised it has been discontinued, though I'm actually more surprised it was ever put into production at all!

Update: after writing my review of Womanity, I feel it is only fair to add that I have realised that I love how it smells in the bottle; also when I wore it, some had sprayed onto my clothes, and I also loved it there. I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that Womanity behaves very oddly on my skin, and it isn't quite such a peculiar fragrance as I originally thought.